Loan fraud probe: Odisha police's economic offence wing claims Sambad staff did not cooperate

Odisha Polices Economic Offence Wing on Friday alleged that the staff of leading Odia daily SambadEastern Media Limited did not cooperate when its team visited their establishment here on Thursday to probe into the organised bank fraud case.The EOW has registered a case against Sambad editor Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and the HR head Baijaynti Kar under different sections of IPC including 420 cheating and 120-B conspiracy accusing them of being involved in a well-thought conspiracy and organised bank fraud. The EOW in a statement said, Yesterday Thursday a team of EOW conducted searches in the office of Sambad.

Odisha Police's Economic Offence Wing on Friday alleged that the staff of leading Odia daily Sambad/Eastern Media Limited did not cooperate when its team visited their establishment here on Thursday to probe into the 'organised bank fraud' case.

The EOW has registered a case against Sambad editor Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and the HR head Baijaynti Kar under different sections of IPC including 420 (cheating) and 120-B (conspiracy) accusing them of being involved in ''a well-thought conspiracy and organised bank fraud.'' The EOW in a statement said, ''Yesterday (Thursday) a team of EOW conducted searches in the office of Sambad. However, Sambad officials/staff did not cooperate in the investigation. Many important files/documents were found missing. Sambad officials refused to hand over a few suspicious files to the EOW team.'' When the EOW team wanted to copy some relevant computer files of accounts and HR sections, they were denied permission. In this situation, the EOW team was forced to seize some hard discs, it said.

However, Sambad in a statement on Monday had claimed that they fully cooperated with the enforcement agency and provided all documents as per their request.

Sambad has, meanwhile, alleged that the entire issue is a clear case of ''political vendetta and an attack on the freedom of press.'' Odisha's leading daily also alleged that the entire episode started after Sambad editor wrote two signed editorials in August blaming the state government and raised questions on a secretary-level officer's functioning.

Sambad editor Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, who is also an MLA from Khandapada assembly segment in Nayagarh district, has been expelled from the ruling BJD on charge of ''anti-people activities'' on Thursday.

While announcing expulsion of Soumya Ranjan Patnaik from the BJD, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had said the EOW has registered a case against the lawmaker under different sections of IPC.

''Many ex-employees of Sambad newspaper have made similar allegation with the EOW. It is a serious case of organised bank fraud involving loans worth crores of rupees taken in name of more than 300 employees of Sambad by using fraudulent means and forged documents,'' an official release by the BJD said. Sambad was accused of forcing its employees to sign documents to take loans from banks. Even the loanees do not have knowledge of the amount of money being taken by their employer from banks.

Meanwhile, the EOW said more victims/employees of Sambad/ EML have been examined and they have also corroborated the allegations made by complainant Asim Mohapatra.

Further, authorities of Odisha Gramya Bank, Bhubaneswar, (from where about 300 employees have taken loans) have initiated a departmental inquiry to look into the allegation of loan fraud by Sambad/Eastern Media Limited, the EOW said.

''Some of the victims have alleged that the company has manipulated salary figures and did not deposit their dues in the EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund Organization) and ESIC (Employees' State Insurance Corporation),'' the EOW alleged.

EOW is looking into these allegations and information is being called for from relevant organisations, an official said, adding that the bank accounts of Sambad/ Eastern Media Limited (EML) are being scrutinised.

''It is seen that huge amounts of cash has been deposited in the accounts in the last few years. Further investigation into the case is on,'' the official said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)